danman31 Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 The Young Guns Strut Their Stuff in Arizona By Danny Santaromita April 4, 2004 FutureSox.com Spring Training has a lot of different uses to players and teams. For the veteran players of the White Sox, it is a time to get themselves into the groove of playing baseball everyday. Some younger players are looking to get themselves a starting job or just a spot on the team. Then there are the prospects of the future. The 'future sox' if you will, are looking to prove that they can play with the big boys. Prospects such as Jeremy Reed, Brian Anderson, and Ryan Sweeney among others were on display. Some impressed and some disappointed, but all of them are hoping to head into successful regular seasons. Jeremy Reed Reed came into Spring Training as the Sox #1 prospect. It's hard to say that has changed, but batting .214 in the Cactus League disappointed a lot of people. Reed's only had one extra base hit in the spring (a HR) and 2 stolen bases in as many attempts. It remains to be seen where Reed will end up in the minors to start the season. With a good performance in the Cactus League he could have locked a spot up in AAA, but he was able to make Charlotte anyway. In my mind, there are two explanations for Reed's struggles: he either wasn't ready for big league ball or last year was a mirage. Sox fans can only hope it was the former instead of the latter. Expect Reed to hit in the lower .300s this year. It's an amazing thought that lower .300s compared to last season could mean .350. Joe Borchard Borchard barely played this spring due to an injury. He only had 6 at bats, but he used them well. He had 4 hits, 1 double, 1 HR, 2 RBI and 3 runs. Borchard will be starting the season in AAA Charlotte, again. The hope is that he turns it around this season and finally gets his shot with the Sox. If Borchard can put up good numbers early this season he has a good chance to get a call up come midseason. Ross Gload Gload was able to make the Sox with a solid performance in the Cactus League. He will likely come off the bench and play at 1st base. Gload put up a .323 batting average in spring. Gload's age has kept him from being a top prospect, but he has put up good enough numbers. Finally it has paid off with a spot on the team. Congratulations on making the team' Ross! Jamie Burke Burke had a shot of making the team entering spring. Batting .226 with only 1 extra base hit really hurt his chances. In the end he didn't make the team. Burke will split time with Mike Rivera and Ryan Hankins as Charlotte's catcher. He has been getting closer to getting an extended stint with the team, but he still fell short. Expect Burke to have a solid year this year. In all likelihood, he will be the first guy out of the minors to replace an injured catcher on the Sox. Kelly Dransfeldt Dransfeldt impressed a lot of people in Arizona by batting .419. In watching him play a bit I saw him get 3 hits in 4 at bats. He has a nice line drive swing, but showed little, if any power. Dransfeldt struggled last season in the minors and that is probably why he didn't make the team. Sox management probably wants him to prove himself for an extended period of time in the minors before calling him up. His expectations have shot up due to his performance this spring, but don't look for him to tear the cover off the ball. Be surprised if Dransfeldt hits above .300 in the minors this season. Ryan Sweeney Sweeney raised eyebrows batting .367 in 30 at-bats. The 19 year-old impressed everyone who saw him. Experts and teammates alike have been raving about this phenom saying that 'he can do no wrong' and that 'he is a god'. It will be interesting to see how he can do in his first full season of professional baseball. He was part of the Winston-Salem roster that was announced on the 3rd. Contract negotiations limited Sweeney's time in short season rookie ball last season, so fans had not seen much of Sweeney going into Cactus League play. Sweeney's expectations are so high that anything under .300 would be a disappointed, but it doesn't appear that hitting in the .300s will be difficult for him. He could possibly duplicate Jeremy Reed's season of a year ago, which was hit well at Winston-Salem, move up to Birmingham and hit well there too. The Sox won't be in a hurry to move Sweeney up though. He is the youngest player on the Warthogs roster, so it is unlikely that he will get moved up to AA under any circumstances. Brian Anderson Anderson, the Sox first pick in the 2003 draft, put up a .233 batting average. The 22 year-old is going to start the season in high A Winston-Salem with Ryan Sweeney. The duo will draw a lot of attention to the Warthogs along with Ricardo Nanita, who tore the cover off the ball at Great Falls. He enters his first full season of professional ball with high expectations. The buzz that is going to be centered on teammate Ryan Sweeney might help take some pressure off of him. Anderson, unlike Sweeney, is old enough that the Sox will probably be more willing to promote him if he plays well for the Warthogs. One thing is for sure, the Winston-Salem OF will be fun to watch this season. Jon Adkins Adkins pitched his way into the Sox roster this spring. In 10.2 IP he surrendered only one earned run. He came out of the bullpen in each of his nine appearances. He gave up nine hits and three walks with only one strikeout. With Kelly Wunsch on the DL to start the season Adkins was given a spot on the Opening Day roster. It will be up to him to prove that he should remain on the team when Wunsch gets healthy. Neal Cotts Cotts pitched his way back onto the Sox roster. After a disappointing stint with the Sox last season, the prospect that was added as part of the Koch-Foulke deal did very well in Spring Training. He posted a 2.45 ERA in 11 innings. He only gave up three earned runs all spring, but I managed to see two of them. He was placing the ball over the plate, but it didn't seem to be his best stuff. Cotts seemed to have his control down, but if he is focusing on simply getting the ball over the plate instead of just pitching he could be in trouble. His numbers were impressive though, so look for Cotts to be solid out of the bullpen and possibly contest for a spot in the rotation this year. Jon Rauch Rauch only pitching six innings this spring and pitched decently. The once highly touted prospect has had to deal with injuries that have set him back. He finished with a 4.50 ERA, but had five strikeouts and no walks. The K/BB numbers are encouraging and hopefully Rauch can pitch well this season at AAA Charlotte. Jason Grilli Grilli struggled mightily this spring. In 14 IP he gave up 13 earned runs. Each performance was a start. Grilli cleared waivers in order to take a spot at Charlotte. The 27 year-old has a chance to make the Sox later in the season, but he won't be considered unless he picks up his game in AAA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiff Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Solid article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxAce Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Decent Article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 i liked it a lot...so maybe i have low expectations compared to the previous posters... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danman31 Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 i liked it a lot...so maybe i have low expectations compared to the previous posters... Thanks. It wasn't giving any new information. For anyone who followed the Sox in spring and follows the minors it wasn't really telling you much. This gave the stats of the players, what it means, and what to expect from them. Any idiot can come up with that (I wrote it after all ) if you do the research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 yeah, but i thought we were talking about the writing...and the layout was easy to read...and there were some good comments in there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danman31 Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 yeah, but i thought we were talking about the writing...and the layout was easy to read...and there were some good comments in there... Thanks, I take pride in my writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 hmm...how do you do that... i pride myself on video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Good stuff Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBAHO Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Nice article there Dan, some good points made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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